•Hierarchical MCM-22-AT is highly efficient for selective isomerization of β-pinene.•100% conversion and 93.7% yield are achieved.•It is one heterogeneous catalyst with excellent recyclable stability.•A calcination-free reaction-regeneration process is developed.Hierarchical MCM-22 material with microporous-mesoporous structure is found to be a highly efficient solid acid catalyst for the liquid phase isomerization of β-pinene, which can achieve 100% conversion of β-pinene and 93.7% yield for main products inclusive of 76.2% limonene and 17.5% camphene under mild reaction conditions. The excellent catalytic activity of the catalyst is ascribed to hierarchical pore structure and suitable Brønsted/Lewis ratio of surface acidity on the material, widely characterized by XRD, SEM, TEM, N2 adsorption, ICP, NH3-TPD, and pyridine-IR analyses. More importantly, this catalyst can be regenerated by simple MeOH-washing without calcination, different from traditional recovery by calcination at high temperature, and reused 7 times without an appreciable decrease of both the conversion of β-pinene and the selectivity of camphene and limonene, implying its excellent recyclable stability.

Porous nitrogen-doped carbon black (NCB) was synthesized by facile carbonization of carbon black (CB) coated with polypyrrole (CB@polypyrrole) and used as a support for Ni nanoparticles (NPs). The microstructure, reducibility and crystallinity of the as-synthesized materials were investigated by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), H2-TPR/TPD, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). It was found that surface nitrogen species on NCB significantly promote the decomposition of the nickel precursor and the reduction of nickel oxide, and improve the stability of metallic Ni in ambient atmosphere. In the selective hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) of vanillin in the aqueous phase at low hydrogen pressure (0.5 MPa) and mild temperature (<150 °C), Ni/NCB shows much higher activity than N-free catalysts. This is ascribed to the higher reducibility, the lower oxidation state of Ni NPs and the enhanced hydrogen spillover of Ni to the support. Moreover, the Ni/NCB catalyst is relatively cheap and easy to scale-up the production of, thus achieving a low-cost transformation of biomass to bio-oils.

The carbon supported 10% Ni catalysts doped with 3‰ Rh have been prepared by an impregnation method. These catalysts have been used to catalyze the one-step hydrogenation of nitrobenzene to cyclohexylamine. The results show that the 3‰ Rh–10% Ni/CSC (biocarbon) catalyst exhibits an excellent performance to achieve 100 mol% conversion of nitrobenzene and 91.6% selectivity of cyclohexylamine under reaction conditions of 3.5 MPa and 140 °C. The recycling tests reveal recyclable stability of 3‰ Rh–10% Ni/CSC. This catalyst is active for the hydrogenation of a series of electron-deficient nitrobenzenes. Some factors such as the type of carriers, the content of Ni and Rh, the type of metals and additives play important roles in controlling the selective hydrogenation.

Organic–inorganic hybrid microporous crystalline molecular sieves, extending the application of conventional zeolites in the fields of selective catalysis and adsorption, have aroused great interest in chemists. However, the complicated and difficult synthesis of organic–inorganic hybrid microporous molecular sieves by using a conventional hydrothermal method has hindered the rapid development of this field. The present work describes the recent progress in the synthesis of a hairy particle zeolite-like organic–inorganic hybrid with the high organic group content by one-step dry-gel conversion (DGC) assembly of organic Si, inorganic Si and other inorganic species without any organic template, which is proven to be efficient, economical, simple, and controllable. Thus-synthesized hybrid materials, as we know, with the highest organic group content reported in the literature, can be bestowed with modifiable catalytic activities by different treatments. This study will be applicable for the development of organic–inorganic hybrid catalytic materials.

Organic–inorganic hybrid microporous crystalline molecular sieves, extending the application of conventional zeolites in the fields of selective catalysis and adsorption, have aroused great interest in chemists. However, the complicated and difficult synthesis of organic–inorganic hybrid microporous molecular sieves by using a conventional hydrothermal method has hindered the rapid development of this field. The present work describes the recent progress in the synthesis of a hairy particle zeolite-like organic–inorganic hybrid with the high organic group content by one-step dry-gel conversion (DGC) assembly of organic Si, inorganic Si and other inorganic species without any organic template, which is proven to be efficient, economical, simple, and controllable. Thus-synthesized hybrid materials, as we know, with the highest organic group content reported in the literature, can be bestowed with modifiable catalytic activities by different treatments. This study will be applicable for the development of organic–inorganic hybrid catalytic materials.